Julia Hailes MBE

Sustainability Pioneer

My Mother was the first person in the UK to be buried in a mycelium coffin (Nov22)

When I tell people about my mother’s coffin, the most common response is ‘what’s mycelium?’.  The answer is that it’s fungi – in particular the vast network of fungal ‘string’ that thrives in the earth from one end of the planet to the other. Mycelium not only speeds up decomposition, it actually decontaminates the land.  […]

Let’s stop needing printers (Dec21)

The biggest problem with printers is that they’re not made to last. Good Business has published a great blog outlining the problem with these monstrously inefficient machines. I’m embarrassed at how many printers I’ve been through. They rarely last more than 2 years, they’re incredibly bulky, they’re really badly designed, if there’s a paper jam […]

Eco-technologies at Home – Electric Green (Jun11)

This is a draft of article written for the FT – an edited edition was published in June 2011 – Eco Technologies at home – Electric Green. DRAFT ARTICLE Finding eco-technologies that have really good eco-credentials is harder than you might think.   For example, I’m a bit cynical about bamboo mice for your computer and […]

Green Mobile Company Lives and Dies – C Mobile (Jun11)

C Mobile promised a greener approach to using your mobile phone.  Their idea was to give a proportion of their profits to community renewable energy projects, to minimise waste, offer re-conditioned hand-sets and recycle phones wherever possible.  Unfortunately they both launched and folded in 2010 and 2011 – they weren’t able to keep up with the big […]

Eco-driving by Fiat (Dec10)

If everyone in Europe was an eco-driver we could apparently save the equivalent of the annual CO2 emissions from Portugal! According to Fiat, we’d also all be getting places faster. Their eco-driving advice encourages less stopping and starting – and less vrooming on the accelerator. That made me wonder if women were better eco-drivers than […]

C Mobile Adisory Board (Jun10)

I’ve joined the newly formed Advisory Board of C-Mobile.  This company is launching a pay as you go mobile phone package in partnership with Orange.   It’s early days but they plan to invest a proportion of profits to green initiatives and campaign to improve the environmental performance of the mobile phone industry.

Printer Horrors (Oct08)

I’ve been having problems with my printer.   Actually, it’s been annoying me for quite some time. The gremlin inside it gets particularly difficult when I’m trying to print something off before rushing out of the door to catch a train. Perhaps I should admit to be partly to blame for my problems.  Having bought my inkjet printer […]

Interior designers be damned (Jun07)

I stayed the night with friends in Holland Park. Only a year ago they had completely stripped their house to the bone and refurbished it from top to bottom. I wish they hadn’t!  Interior designers, builders, architects and I’m afraid to say my friends too have managed to create a family home with an energy […]